The Progress Paradox, Gregg Easterbrook
The Progress Paradox, Gregg Easterbrook
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The Progress Paradox
How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse

Author: Gregg Easterbrook

Narrator: Jonathan Marosz

Unabridged: 11 hr 12 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/03/2003


Synopsis

In The Progress Paradox, Gregg Easterbrook draws upon three decades of wide-ranging research and thinking to make the persuasive assertion that almost all aspects of Western life have vastly improved in the past century--and yet today, most men and women feel less happy than in previous generations. Why this is so and what we should do about it is the subject of this book.

Between contemporary emphasis on grievances and the fears engendered by 9/11, today it is common to hear it said that life has started downhill, or that our parents had it better. But objectively, almost everyone in today’s United States or European Union lives better than his or her parents did.

Still, studies show that the percentage of the population that is happy has not increased in fifty years, while depression and stress have become ever more prevalent. The Progress Paradox explores why ever-higher living standards don’t seem to make us any happier. Detailing the emerging science of “positive psychology,” which seeks to understand what causes a person’s sense of well-being, Easterbrook offers an alternative to our culture of crisis and complaint. He makes a Compelling case that optimism, gratitude, and acts of forgiveness not only make modern life more fulfilling but are actually in our self-interest.

Seemingly insoluble problems of the past, such as crime in New York City and smog in Los Angeles, have proved more tractable than they were thought to be. Likewise, today’s “impossible” problems, such as global warming and Islamic terrorism, can be tackled too.

Like The Tipping Point, this book offers an affirming and constructive way of seeing the world anew. The Progress Paradox will change the way you think about your place in the world, and about our collective ability to make it better.

About The Author

Gregg Easterbrook is the author of nine books, including The Progress Paradox. He is a contributing editor to The Atlantic, for which he has written more than a dozen cover stories, and The New Republic. His articles have appeared in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times, as well as on the covers of Newsweek and Time. He has appeared on Today, Larry King Live, Nightline, CBS Morning NewsAll Things Considered, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, The Diane Rehm Show, and The O'Reilly Factor. And, as a hobby, he writes the Tuesday Morning Quarterback football column for ESPN. He lives near Washington, DC, with his wife and three children.A veteran stage performer and audiobook narrator, Jonathan Marosz has regional and national stage credits ranging from works by Shakespeare to modern day.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Michael

This is what I've been trying to tell you. We think things are getting better, but we are more miserable than ever. This is a very timely book. It gets pretty repetitious and could be about half the length (and it's not all that long to begin with), but it's worth wading through restatement after re......more

Goodreads review by Adam

He takes the whole first half of the book to say that "things are much better than they used to be". He does a great job articulating it, which was nice, but ultimately it just took way too long. In the second half of the book, he does two things: 1) talk about how we could be happier, and 2) talk ab......more


Quotes

Praise for Gregg Easterbrook

“Easterbrook . . . is a serious author with serious points to make.”
--The New York Times


“Easterbrook . . . writes nothing that is not brilliant.”
--Chicago Tribune


“Easterbrook is perhaps the finest general science writer in the country.”
--Forbes


“Easterbrook invests the timeless questions of life’s meaning with distinctly contemporary pertinence.”
--GEORGE WILL